We
Plan To Move Into Our New Facility Soon!
Administrative Staff: Mrs. Angela M. Neeley, Chief
Administrative and Fiscal Officer; Mrs Mozella M. C. Watts, Curriculum,
Instruction, and Professional Development Supervisor; Mrs. Kelly L.
Pack Crosby, Business Manager / Human Resources Officer; Mrs. Cynthia
Y. Shotwell, Secretary; Mrs. Synia L Rodgers, EMIS Data Coordinator and
Student Records Manager; Mr. Anthony Kratsas, Certified Instructional
Leader Elementary Grades (K to 4); Mr. Robert M. Singleton, Certified
Instructional Leader Intermediate Grades (5 to 8)
Faculty and Assistant
Teachers: Mrs.
Regina Wilson, Certified Kindergarten Teacher; Ms. Michelle A.D.
Batten, Certified 1st Grade Teacher; Mrs. Kyrie Lee, Certified 2nd
Grade Teacher; Ms. Sheila J. Zeidrich, Certified 3rd Grade Teacher;
Mrs. Nicole M. Cathey, Certified 4th Grade Teacher; Ms. Redelia House,
Certified Mathematics Teacher - Grades 5 to 8; Mrs. Chelaise Burton,
Certified Social Studies Teacher - Grades 5 to 8; Certified Substitute
for Mrs. Burton: Ms. Marcella Gattuso; Mrs. Roslyn Pratt Haynes,
Non-Certified Language Arts Teacher - Grades 5 to 8; Mrs. Christie
McFadden, Certified Natural Sciences Teacher - Grades 5 to 8;
Mrs. Mary K. Petric, Certified Title I Teacher; Mrs. Andrea K. Hirst,
Certified Title I Teacher; Mrs. Stephanie B. Wood, Certified Title I
Teacher; Certified Special Education Teacher, TBA - Grades K to 4; Ms.
Paula Warren, Non-Certified Special Education Teacher - Grades 5 to 8;
Mrs. Doni Mari Burrus Brooks, Assistant Teacher, Community Relations
and Student Discipline; Mr. Floyd Fillingame, Assistant Teacher and
Information Technologist
Special Academic
Involvements: Mr. Anthony Gamblin, Non-Certified
Health and Physical Education Teacher - Grades K to 8;
Mr. Brian Spizzo, Certified Art Teacher - Grades
K to 8; Music Teacher, TBA - Grades K to 8
Board of Governors:
Dr. Edward W. Crosby, Founder and Chair; Dr. Janice D. Taylor Heard,
Vice Chair; Dr. Bridgie A. Ford;
Mrs. Angela M. Neeley, Board Treasurer; Mr. John Fuller; Mrs.
Mozella M. Cottingham Watts; Mrs. Nikki Marchmon Boykin,
Mrs. Cynthia Y. Shotwell, Board Secretary;
Mrs. Emma Jean Calhoun, Co-Founder and Governor Emeritus (1998-2000)
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Highly
Qualified Educators
Teach
Your Community's
Youth
n
August 1999, the Ida
B. Wells Community Academy hired a number of certified and highly
qualified
faculty and staff. Seven years later the Academy has continued to hire
highly qualified faculty and staff. Recently the
Academy established a
working relationship with Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, 442 E.
Bell Street, Akron, Ohio 44307 and
joined with Pastor Jeffrey A. Dennis to place the Ida B. Wells
Intermediate Learning Center – Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 – at Mt. Calvary.
The elementary grades –
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th – will remain at Mt. Ollive Baptist
Church, 1180 Slosson Street, forming the Academy's Elementary Ele-
mentary Learning Center.
The
staff also consists of a
cadre of Administrative and Support Staff that serves as the
Academy's
Brain Trust; that is, they are the ones assigned the task of making
certain the Academy's educational mission to deliver quality
educational services is accomplished. These
administrators and support staff are:
- Dr.
Edward W. Crosby
is the Academy Board of Governors Chair and serves as chair of
the Board's Personnel and Grievance Committee; this committee
handles Faculty and Student affairs and the grievances related to
academic or employment issues.
- Mrs.
Angela M. Neeley was
elevated from Business Manager to Chief
Administrative
Officer. This position is a redesignation of the former
Superintendent
position. She also functions as the Academy's
Fiscal Officer.
- Mrs. Mozella M.
Cottingham Watts, MEd, Supervisor of Curricu- lum, Instruction and
Professional Development. Mrs. Watts is a retired Principal
of Hotchkiss Elementary and Perkins Middle School s in the city of Akron
City.
- Mrs.
Kelly L. Pack Crosby is the Academy's licensed Business Manager and
Human Resources Officer,
- Mrs.
Synia L. Rodgers
continues to do a superior job as the Aca- demy's Secretary
/
Student Registrar
and EMIS and Student Records
Coordinator.
- Ms. Doni
M. Burrus the Academy's
Community Relations Facili- tator which includes student
recruitment, attendance, and disci- pline. This appointment also
requires
Ms.
Burrus to meet regularly with parents and community leaders to tell the
Ida B. Wells strory and enlist mean- ingful community involvement in
the
Academy's edu cational process.
- Mrs. Cynthia Y.
Shotwell is the Secretary-Receptionist at the In- termediate
Center. She also serves the Secretary to the Board of Governors.
The
members of the Academy's Board of Governors are highlighted on
the next page.
Other
very essential
elements of any educational institution is
its Faculty and Teaching Assistants, all of whom have to be highly
qualified, State certified, and committed to deliver the educational
standards required by
the State of Ohio and the No Child Left Behind Act. All classroom
teachers are also responsible for teaching African and African American
culture and history and creating the tools to assess those Academy
instituted curricular items as well as those required by the State's
achievement and proficiency tests. The faculty are also complimented by
a cadre of qualified volunteers. There are two individuals assigned to
direct the
faculty, teaching assistants, special educa- tion personnel, and
volunteers on each of the campuses. They are:
o Mr. Anthony Kratsas is a certified
teacher and manages the Acade-
my's Elementary School Campus. Her
educational
team mates are:
- Mrs. Regina Wilson is the
Academy's certified
Kindergarten
Teacher.
- Ms. Michelle A.D. Batten is a
certified
and teaches 1st
Grade students.
- Mrs. Kyrie A. Lee
is the
Academy's certified
2nd Grade
Teacher.
- Mrs. Sheila J. Zeidrich is
certified and teaches the
3rd
Grade.
- Mrs. Nicole Cathey teaches the
4th Grade and has
applied for state certification.
- Mrs. Mary Petric is our certified Title I -
Reading
and Math
Teacher.
- Peggy R. Romesberg serves as a certified
Special
Education or Learning
Disabilities
Specialist.
o
Mr. Robert M. Singleton is
a certified teacher and manages the Aca-
demy's Intermediate Center. His
educational teammates are:
- Mrs. Cynthia Y.
Shotwell is the Secretary- Receptionist
- Ms. Chelaise Burton, MBA, is certified and
teaches Social Studies to all grades taught at the Intermediate Center.
- Mr. Floyd Filingame is the
Academy's Information Technology Specials and Assistant Teacher. He
also serves as needed in Mrs. House's Math classes.
- Mrs. Christie McFadden
is state certified and
striving to be classified as a highly qualified Science teacher for
grades 5, 6, 7 and 8. She also coaches boys basketball.
- Mrs. Paula Warren as a
certified
Special
Education or Learning Intervention
Specialist.
- Mrs. Andrea Hirst is our
certified Title
I - Reading
and Math
Teacher. She has also established a mentoring
program for the Academy's female students.
- Mrs.Redelia House has state authorization to
teach mathematics to all grades taught at the Intermediate Learning
Center.
Academy offers the
following special academic courses for all students enrolled at its
Elementary and Middle Schools:
- Mr. Tony Gamblin is a state approved
Assistant Teacher of Physical Education and Health and Hygiene.
- Mr. Brian Spizzo teaches the
Visual Arts to
students
Volunteers:
- The
Academy
needs your skills and academic interests to help develop our young
people into the scholars and community builders they a destined to
become.
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Title I Students to Read
and Do Math
Kindergarten
Class of Attentibve
Learners
Assistant Teachers Review Their
Daily Activity Plans
Eager First Grade Students in the
Act of Learning
Building Second Graders into
Scholars
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The Founder:
Dr. Edward W. Crosby, PhD
Anansi, His 6 Sons and A Daughter
ne day
not so long ago, there was a spider named Anansi. Anansi
was born and raised in the country, but had just recently moved to the
city after marrying his beautiful wife, Aso. Not
long after moving to the city Anansi returned home from a long day's
work as a systems analyst and, after greeting his wife, was told that
they would be having a baby soon. Anansi was
very excited about this wonderful news and danced a dance of
celebration with his wife.
Their first child was born a few days later and they
were both very happy. Now this child was no
ordinary child, oh no. He actually told them his
name before they could think of a name for him. His
name was U-mo-ja and he had special powers that allowed him to
gather people together who didn’t always agree with each other. Now, before Umoja's
first birthday, Anansi comes home from work and is greeted with the
news that Aso is expecting another child soon, a son.
When this son is born he also knows his name.
He tells his proud parents that his name is Ku-ji-cha-gu-li-a
and he’s really the backbone of the family, for he has the power to
help the weak and unfortunate in this world to stand up for themselves
in times of trouble and need.
Well it just doesn’t get any better than this, or
does it. Not long after Kujichagulia’s
arrival Anansi and Aso have another baby. This
son tells them his name is U-ji-ma and he is very skilled at
planning and coordinating group activities, like neighborhood cleanups
and such. Soon after his birth come the births of his brothers U-ja-ma-a,
N-i-a and Ku-um-ba. Ujamaa
is good at helping large groups of people manage their money by pooling
together their resources. Nia has the
ability to turn a bad situation into a good one by focusing on the
positive and using proverbs and stories to help others see how they can
do it too. The last in a long line of boys
called himself Kuumba and he was the artist in the family. He could draw anything, sculpt in clay and wood and
he could even use his pen to draw himself out of sticky situations. Last, but not least, I-ma-ni was born and
she was like the high priestess of the family. She
had faith in herself and her people, that they could do what others
have done. This faith allowed her to do things
that would be impossible for people without faith in themselves.
Anansi had been working as a systems analyst for
quite some time now and he knew his way around computers and computer
networks. But, one day he was working on
installing a new network at a large university and accidentally touched
the wrong two wires in a computer, he was reconfiguring, fusing one of
his legs onto the motherboard. He tried to free
himself using his web spinning abilities, to no avail. He
was hopelessly stuck inside the computer. He
tried using his cell phone to call his family to come and get him. This had worked in the past, when he was in similar
predicaments, but this time his battery was low and he was in a cell
phone dead zone, where he couldn’t get a good connection, so he
resorted to the only other form of communication he could think of, he
yelled. He carried on with this yelling for
quite some time with no result. Then by some
stroke of luck one of his children heard him and took the message to
the rest of the family, that dad was in trouble. Who do you think heard
the message and carried it back to the family? Of
course, it was Umoja! He called
for a family meeting and gathered everyone together in order to come up
with a plan to rescue Anasi, their father. Their
first thought was to call 911, but they were overwhelmed with calls
coming in from irate computer users who couldn’t access the
university’s Telnet system, so they couldn’t send out a search and
rescue team any time soon. Kujichagulia encouraged
them to come up with a plan on their own to rescue Anansi.
Ujima offered to help in the planning and
coordination of an emergency rescue operation, while Ujamaa
suggested they pool their savings together to pay for cab fare to
father’s worksite and for any tools they would need to release him from
the deadly grip of the PC he was stuck inside.
Once they reached Anansi’s worksite they looked over
the situation and saw that it did not look good for Anansi. Nia offered to use his great strength to pull
Anansi away from the computer, while Kuumba offered to use his
knife to separate Anansi’s leg from the motherboard. Alas,
they tried and tried, with no success. His leg
was firmly stuck to the motherboard. Imani began chanting Harambee, Harambee, Harambee, first
very softly, then louder and louder. At
first the other family members ignored him, but then it dawned on them
what he was trying to say. Harambee means let’s
all pull together, so each of them attached a number of strands of
their webbing to Anansi from all different directions and began to
pull, while Ujima continued to cut away at the motherboard in
a desperate attempt to free Anansi from its grasp.
After going at it for several hours they succeeded
at freeing Anansi and they all began to do a little dance.
However, the story doesn’t end there, for you see while
they were celebrating, their web strands became fused with the inner
workings of the computer and its Telnet network, creating something
entirely new. Do you know what this is? Why it’s the Internet, of course.
The worldwide web was created by Anansi, the spider, his 6
sons and his only daughter. If this story isn’t
true, it oughta be; and that’s the truth!
Copyright
© Kofi M. Khemet,
Sacramento, CA, December
7, 2003. Mr. Khemet was the Academy's Curriculum
Infusion consultant for the
years 2003 and 2004.
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